The Red John List is Down to 2 on 'The Mentalist'

rchan

Yahoo TV•November 18, 2013

Last week's explosion on "The Mentalist" really helped narrow the field in the hunt for Red John, taking out Bret Stiles, Sheriff McAllister and Ray Haffner — all of whom deserve a posthumous apology from Patrick Jane. Especially poor Ray; all he ever wanted to do was make awkward and unwanted advances on Van Pelt and Lisbon. He may have been a creepo, but he's no killer.

So now we're down to FBI agent Reede Smith and CBI director Gale Bertram. Which one is it? Bertram tries to kill a hospitalized and unconscious Jane — incriminating, but then if some guy pulled a shotgun on you and then got you half-blown to kingdom come, you'd want to kill him too.

Smith turns himself in to the CBI when the Tyger Tyger conspiracy (which, we find out, is actually called The Blake Association) tries to kill him. Red John wouldn't turn himself in, would he? Well, he certainly hasn't eluded Jane for five seasons by doing the expected.

So, who's it going to be? Bertram is on the run (after a climactic “Where's Waldo?” escape involving dozens of SWAT officers descending on his location) and he's got an encoded list in his secret storage facility (mostly wine, no bodies). Smith is in custody, but you know what they say about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer...

Then, of course, there's the little matter of the FBI shutting down the CBI. Which seems a little extreme, but if it turned out the chief of your local police department was a crazed serial killer, they'd probably shut that down too. FBI Supervisor special agent Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar, who you may recognize from “Sons of Anarchy”) has signed for a multi-episode arc, so expect to expect to see more of him as the show gets ready to examine life without Red John.

Less than a week until we find out, absolutely, who Red John is. What do you think? Smith said he didn't kill Jane's wife and kids. Maybe he's a good enough liar to fool Jane? Or it's still possible that Red John is multiple people. Is the list a catalog of people that Bertram's killed? Or is it a list of members of The Blake Association? All (well, most, probably) will be revealed next week!